Jeil Pharmaceutical announced on Thursday that it has signed a domestic exclusive supply contract of cefiderocol, a super-antibiotics of Ping An-Shionogi based on the siderophore cephalosporin antibiotic component.
Ping An-Shionogi, a joint corporation of Japan’s Shionogi and Hong Kong’s Ping An, has secured the Asian sales rights of cefiderocol from its original developer, Shionogi.
Under the latest contract, Jeil Pharma holds exclusive rights to develop and commercialize cefiderocol in Korea.
The company expects cefiderocol to become a new treatment option for anti-microbial resistance (AMR), including carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) or the so-called super bacteria.
The WHO designates AMR as one of the 10 public health threats, naming it as a “silent pandemic” and warning that it could lead to 10 million deaths by 2050 if there are no proper responses until then. Treatments are also extremely limited, making it urgent to solve medical demands.
Cefiderocol is the world’s first siderophore cephalosporin antibiotic. It overcame various resistance acquisitions for gram-negative antibiotics, showing strong antibacterial action as it absorbs through bacteria's iron porine channel after binding to iron.
In particular, it is effective against enterobacteria, pseudomonas aeruginosa, acinetobacter baumannii, and stenotrophomonas maltophilia. It is expected to resolve the demands for gram-negative complex urinary tract infection patients, including nephropyelitis patients, and hospital-infected bacterial pneumonia, including respirator-related bacterial pneumonia patients, according to Jeil Pharm.
Cefiderocol is currently used with approval in the U.S. and Europe.
“We are delighted with the new partnership and expect close cooperation in providing more treatment opportunities,” said Jeil Pharmaceutical CEO Sung Suk-je. “Cefiderocol will become a meaningful treatment option for multidrug-resistant bacteria patients amid the pressing need for a new treatment with increasing antibiotic resistance patients in Korea.”